Introduction: Culture mangling: Conflict and dissonance in Modern Language studies

Abstract

Introduction to the Culture Mangle volume. Locates the essays in the context of divergences and differences of preoccupation in cultural studies as practiced in the different areas of modern language studies in the UK and US. To this end the piece explores tensions and fault lines in constructions of territory, history and identity in various language area disciplines within modern language studies, concentrating notably on Aleksander Sokurov’s Russian Ark (2002), a lavish vision of the Hermitage museum’s reflective condensation of conflicting and desiring visions and articulations of cultural memory.